| Thomas Collcutt: Totteridge Architect
Some time between 1891 and 1901 Totteridge began its metamorphosis from rural community to affluent outer suburb. Instrumental in that change was Thomas E Collcutt, one of the leading architects of the day, who designed many public buildings including the Palace Theatre on Cambridge Circus, the Wigmore Hall and the Imperial Institute, of which only the tower - part of Imperial College – now remains.
He designed four houses on Totteridge Green – The Croft (1895), where he and his large family lived, Crossways (1898) and Fairspeir (1899) in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style and Lyenells (1900, now called Dell House), which signaled a change of architectural direction. The Lynch House on Totteridge Common (1904, now renamed The Tower House) and The Paddocks off Totteridge Lane are other examples of Collcutt’s work.
In 1881, Totteridge was essentially rural, as confirmed by the census of that year. The Village was divided into two populated areas: the first began west of St Andrew’s Church while the other centred around Totteridge Green - then called just ‘The Green’. A predominantly farming community and assortment of tradespeople inhabited the Green, including the village smithy next to the Village School with the village constable, James Newton, living conveniently close to the adjoining Orange Tree Pub.
‘The Green’ was dominated by Poynters Grove to the north, a country house where the Puget family lived or nearly 100 years from 1799 and which was demolished in 1936. Two lines of great oaks led from the house down the Green and some of these still stand.
The Census of 1891 also showed a farming population, but by ten years later there had been a distinct change with generally wealthier residents living in architect-designed houses with domestic servants, coachmen and gardeners.
The Lord of the Manor of Totteridge, Sir Samuel Bagster Boulton, who lived in The Copped Hall in Totteridge Village from 1875, was instrumental in the development of both farmland and Totteridge Manor land for building. It was he who developed four houses on his own farmland on the west ridge of Totteridge Green designed by Thomas E Collcutt.
Collcutt was born in Oxford in 1840 and attended the Oxford Diocesan School. It was said that he studied at Mill Hill School, but this is not recorded in the school archives, although he later developed a strong connection and designed several school buildings including the Murray Scriptorium, Collinson House (1902) and Ridgeway House. Collcutt had a similar connection with Eton College where he designed some of the boarders’ houses, namely Waynflete & Westbury (1899), Wootton (1903) and Walpole (1906).
One of the most prolific architects of the Victoria era, he won the design competition for the P&O Pavilion for the Paris Exhibition of 1900 and went on to create the interiors of many P&O liners. In 1902 he was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. The Lynch House was built for Anthony Howard of P&O in 1904 and later George H Bailey, the Chairman of P&O lived in Lyenells now known as House.Dell
Thomas E Collcutt, his wife Emily moved to Croft House in Totteridge from Mortlake, on the Thames near Richmond in 1895, together with their six children, who included his musician daughter Eleanor, his artist daughters Mary and Grace Marion and their youngest son Philip. By the time of the 1901 Census their other two children, Arthur and Margaret, had moved away from home.
In 1897, Alfred Byerley Smith and his wife Louisa – friends of the Collcutts - commissioned Collcutt to build Crossways, a house similar in style to his own, on five acres of land sold to him by Sir Samuel Bagster Boulton together with the adjoining Rose Cottage. Byerley Smith, a wealthy ‘upholstery warehouseman’, had six children, some of whom had become friendly with the Collcutt offspring while they all studied together at University College London and the Slade School of Art. Their household, including a coachman and gardeners and their families numbered 24 – a size that seems astonishing today - some of whom were housed in Rose Cottage, now known as Strathearn Cottages.
‘Crossways’ itself was later known as ‘Strathearn’ when James McEwan was recorded as the owner in 1937. Strathearn is a district in Perthshire where it is likely that McEwan originated. From 1953 until 1968 Crossways was occupied as an enclosed Carmelite Monastery. It was then it was purchased by the Consolata Missionary Fathers as a college for missionary students and subsequently found surplus to requirements in 2003. It has now been developed as Grace Court by Banner Homes.
Fairspeir was built on a smaller scale but similar idiom to the neighbouring houses of The Croft & Crossways. Its first occupant was Miss Catherine Jones, who is recorded in the 1901 Census as having been born in Ireland and described as a ‘lady of independent means’. It was later known as Lloyds Cottage after two sisters of that name who lived there for many years.
Thomas E Collcutt built ‘Lyenells’ (now Dell House) to the north of The Croft for Sir Samuel Bagster Boulton’s son Oscar, who was working in the family chemical timber business, on farmland owned by his father. As with the Croft, Fairspeir and Crossways, the architect made good use of its position on a ridge with outstanding southwesterly views. Although apparently different in style from the front, Dell House has a garden elevation with similar projecting gabled wings to both Crossways and The Croft.
The roof is noticeable for the Cotswold stone slates unique in Totteridge, which must have been imported at considerable expense, probably from Collcutt’s home county of Oxfordshire. The front south wing of Dell House was reduced to a single storey in the 1960’s, which has altered the balance of Collcutt’s original design.
In some ways, Collcutt was ahead of his time, writing a book ‘London of the Future’ which discouraged open fires in favour of central heating in order to reduce air pollution. He also advocated slum clearance and the clearance of the River Thames as a pleasure resort for Londoners.
He lived in Totteridge until his death in 1924. He is buried in St Andrew’s churchyard with his wife Emily. His daughter, Grace Marion Collcutt (1875–1954) was an exceptional artist whose work was exhibited at the Royal Academy and Society of Women Artists. She moved to Brighton in the 1920’s and ten of her landscape watercolours are kept in the Brighton & Hove Museum.
We are most grateful to Michael P Lloyd of Lloyd’s Property Services, who carried out the research for this article for Banner Homes Ltd.
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